Bottling, pickling, chutneys, sauces, drinks

I ALWAYS bottle fruit in the oven – Regulo 1 – and I pack the prepared, perfect fruit into hot jars. The jars should be put into the oven on asbestos mats and should not touch each other or be placed over the flames. Leave rhem in the oven until the fruit in the jars shrinks a little. Have a large jar in the oven filled with spare fruit, then fill up the jars from the spare jar as you remove diem singly from the oven.

Put the jars on a hot table-mat one at a time, fill with boiling water and add 1 teaspoonful sugar and ½ teaspoonful salt to each jar. Put on a sterilized rubber ring and top and seal down at once. I bottle tomatoes in this way, too.

Put by as much fruit as possible for the winter months; not only is it economical – it saves worry if things get short in the larder.

If I cannot spare the sugar to preserve all the fruit I want for the winter, I pulp it. Stew the fruit in a large saucepan with ½ cupful water to prevent burning, stirring well all the time. When the fruit is cooked, pour it into very hot jars and seal immediately with clip-on tops.

For preserving fruit pulp, use unblemished ripe fruit; for preserving whole fruit, use fruit that is not too ripe.

RUNNER BEANS

Wash, string and dry thoroughly, then pack into large earthenware jars. Put in first a layer of coarse kitchen salt, then a layer of beans, then a layer of salt, then beans, and so on until the jar is filled. Cover with a stout cloth and tie down with string.

In a few days look to see if the contents have shrunk. If so, refill to the top of the jar with more salt and beans. Provided the beans are covered well with salt they will keep even if the salt gets damp.

BEAN PICKLES

Cook green beans until tender. Make a syrup from 3 cupfuls sugar, 2 cupfuls vinegar and 1 cupful water. Add whole cloves and a stick of cinnamon and tie in a cloth. Boil for five minutes, drop the beans into this water and cook for fifteen minutes. Remove the spice bag – pack while hot.

Use runner beans, small onions, cauliflower, green tomatoes, cucumbers and apples. The quantities of each depend on your own taste. Clean and prepare the vegetables and leave them to soak in brine overnight. To make the brine, allow ½ lb. Salt to each quart of water. Drain the brine off the vegetables in the morning, pack into jars and fill up with spiced vinegar. Do not use for at least six weeks.

This is how to make the mustard mixture: Mix flour with celery seed, sugar, dry mustard and turmeric. Stir in slowly 2 pints of vinegar, turn this mixture into the saucepan and stir until boiling. Cook for five minutes, stirring all the time.

PICKLED MARROW

Dice the marrow. Spread it on a large roast dish and sprinkle with salt. Leave for two days, then drain off the brine. Pack into jars and cover with spiced vinegar. Keep for several weeks before using the pickle.

First peel the onions in cold water. Dissolve one-third of the salt in one-third of the water and stir well. Add the onions and cover with fresh brine made from half the remaining salt and boiling water. Leave standing for two days, then drain. Again make brine from the remainder of the salt and water and stand for half an hour, then drain. After the onions are well drained, pack them into I-lb. Jars, put a blade of mace, 6 peppercorns, 4 cloves, half a bay-leaf and 4 chilli peppers into each. Pour the rest of the vinegar over the onions and cover at once. If sweet pickles are wanted, add sugar. ”

Cook onions until soft, add celery and pour over the tomato pulp. Cover and simmer slowly for liftccn minutes. Transfer to double boiler, stir in flour and seasoning and stir until the mixture begins to thicken. Steam for one hour. If too thick, add a little boiling water. Instead of tomato pulp you could substitute chicken broth with a cupful of grated carrot and a dash of lemon juice.

SAUCE (MINT) Gather the mint when young and tender. Chop it finely with a sprinkling of sugar and place in an airtight jar which has a bakelite or glass cover, as metal rusts with vinegar. Boil 1 oz. Sugar in malt vinegar. When cold, pour over the prepared mint. Make sure the lid fits securely. When mint sauce is required it is necessary only to take a spoonful or two of this mixture and place it in the sauccboat and add vinegar.

Tie the spice in a muslin bag, first bruising the ginger. Tie the bag of spice on the handle of a wooden spoon used for stirring. Let the spoon rest over the pan and the spice bag hang in the pan of vinegar. Add salt and bring to the boil. Simmer for five minutes, then strain into bottles ready for use.

Put tomatoes, onions and apples together in a basin, sprinkle with salt and leave all night. Strain off brine and throw it away. Put the tomatoes, onions and apples into a saucepan and add the sugar soaked in vinegar, and then cover all with vinegar. Add the other spices and boil until tender and quite brown in colour.